End Racial Double Standards in 2014

They say justice is, or should be, color blind — except when it is not!

It’s also appears that in modern-day, or Obama’s America, that a black life seems to mean more when taken by a white than by another black.

In an ironic break from history, it also appears that in today’s world of political correctness, a high-profile crime where a white is victimized by a black is not as worthy of attention and punishment as is the case when a white brutalizes a black victim.

Are “they” correct?

Not entirely.

Any objective observer would have to admit that in our criminal justice system, the color of one’s skin and money often have an impact on outcomes. Just look at the complexion of our local, state, and federal inmate populations.

But, when it comes to mixing justice with politics and political correctness, one might conclude that “they” do have a point.

We only have to look to 2013 to find examples.

In Chicago and other major cities, there was an epidemic of blacks killing blacks — often innocent children. This slaughter received little if any attention from the Department of Justice; few if any pleas from most civil rights groups or so-called black leaders to crack down on gang violence; and, little if any major coverage by the mainstream media.

So what, just more cases of blacks killing each other in their own neighborhoods. Who cares?

And then we had the rise of the so-called “knock out games” or “polar bear” hunting where groups of blacks targeted mostly whites with the goal to “knock them out” with one punch. It is spreading throughout the country. In Brooklyn, the targets were often Orthodox Jews.

Notwithstanding the apparent racial basis of most of these attacks — black against white — there were no calls for hate crime violation investigation by the Department of Justice. Initially, most of the major media, except Fox News, ignored these black against white attacks as did much of the civil rights establishment.

So what, just more cases of black thugs being black thugs — besides, the white victims had no political or media advocates.

Just the opposite in the Trayvon Martin case where white defendant William Zimmerman was accused of murdering black Trayvon Martin based purely on his race.

Unlike in the many cases of black on black crime cited above, the media had a field day as did various civil rights leaders and black politicians all urging prosecution and federal intervention.

But, when a white 27-year-old thug, using his own version of the “knock out game” filmed himself attacking a 79-year-old black man in Texas recently, the Department of Justice through its local U.S. attorney immediately pounced, stating it would go after the white assailant for violating federal hate crime laws.

They found video on his cellphone indicating that he wondered if hitting a black person would get him national attention.

Why the swift move for justice in Texas and do or say so little in the other cases involving blacks attacking blacks or whites?

Although, some will argue it is because the white assailant had used racial epithets and targeted the black victim, the answer is that all too often it appears that a black life means more if taken or harmed by a white person than by another black.

If blacks attack whites, as in most of the “knock out game” cases, it apparently is not as important as the reverse.

Historically, a black life meant little if taken by a black or a white. In today’s world of political correctness, that black life has a bit more value if taken by a white person given the right set of facts in high-profile politicized cases.

A husband is murdered trying to protect his wife in a New Jersey shopping mall from thugs trying to hijack their vehicle. Four blacks have been arrested as the alleged perpetrators.

The New Jersey case received extensive local and national coverage — for a while.

Can you guess the outcome — including in the “knock out” episodes cited above — if the perpetrators had been white and the victims black?

We would still be reading and hearing about the crimes and you can bet there would have been marches on city halls and choruses of “no justice, no peace.” “Racial profiling,” “hate crime” would be the cry of the day in the media and by civil rights leaders.

Will such politicized, polarizing racial double standards begin to crumble in 2014?

Since we have an administration and its supporters who use the race card at every opportunity — don’t bet on it.

And that’s the way it is in the fundamentally changed United States of America.

Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political, and media relations consulting firm in Florida. He held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as in the Reagan presidential campaigns and has appeared on many national and local media outlets. Read more reports from Clarence V. McKee — Click Here Now.